Professor McGonagall took a deep breath, and Luna had the impression of a furnace being fired. “Let me see if I understand you correctly,” began the professor.
Luna nodded once, meekly.
“You have a pressing question, a question so pressing that it was necessary to interrupt my introductory speech.”
The furnace Luna had imagined was powering a locomotive.
“A speech that I have given every year, for the past twenty-six years…”
Well, I was close, thought Luna happily.
“…a speech that no student has ever had the temerity to interrupt before,…”
The locomotive was heading directly for her.
“…and the reason you interrupt me is to ask if I have seen invisible Irish giants.”
Luna, unable to contain herself, blurted out, “Well, they moved to Scotland during the Great Potato Famine…”
The entire room burst into laughter, and just as quickly went deathly quiet when Professor McGonagall raised her palm in a halting gesture.
“Miss Lovegood?” queried the professor, and paused.
Luna had the sense that the locomotive had nearly reached its target. “Yes, Professor?”
“Miss Lovegood, I would strongly advise that you refrain from making any further inquiries until after banquet. Do you know why, Miss Lovegood?”
Luna opened her mouth to answer, thought better of it, and shook her head silently in reply.
“The reason I am giving you this advice,” continued Professor McGonagall, her nostrils flaring (Luna expected to see steam), “is because there is the slightest chance that, after the banquet, everyone will be so full of food that they will not have the energy to change you into something quiet and unobtrusive, like a coat rack!”
Again, there was some scattered, muffled laughter, quickly silenced by the glare that the professor aimed around the room. Not all of the students took it as a joke. Many were staring at Luna open-mouthed, as if expecting her to change into a piece of furniture on the spot. Luna half-expected it herself. She decided that a coat rack’s silence was the safest response.
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